"It isn't such a narrow field once you broaden it out to say we are prepared to look for someone outside the sector," Lindsay Maxsted, one of BHP’s directors, was quoted as saying.

Klopper led BHP through the global financial crisis, with the company weathering the storm with the strongest balance sheet among the main global miners.

The executive took upon the role of BHP's CEO in 2007, the same year that other mining giants such as Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), Anglo American (LSE:AAL) and Xstrata (LON:XTA) implemented key changes to their senior personnel.